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The Ross-on-Wye Boardgamers | BoardGameGeekBoardGameGeek features information related to the board gaming hobbyen-usTue, 28 Jul 2015 19:27:56 +0000Tue, 28 Jul 2015 19:27:56 +0000http://boardgamegeek.com/
webmaster@boardgamegeek.comFriday July 24th - Blue Spy Thinking
<p>by <a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/blogger/623/ben-bateson" >Ben Bateson</a></p>
Becky and I returned from our summer break to find a real treat waiting for us: my much sought-after copies of <a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/163412/patchwork" >Patchwork</a> and <a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/166384/spyfall" >Spyfall</a>. The former could wait until the weekend's 'at home' session: the latter was most definitely a candidate for first on the table.<br/><br/>Luckily I had the company of three fine gentlemen in the shape of Dan, Bill and Dave to enjoy it with. And John, too. We played five rounds or so - Bill and Dave both opted for the 'very vague' approach, at least until Dave drew the Bank Manager - a role he was surely born to! Dan and John put the in the star performances: the former outing himself early with a correct guess, and the latter disguising himself so well in the following round that no-one (except me!) suspected him.<br/><br/>Time was of the essence: Suz was expected at 9:30, so we had to play something in 45 minutes flat. Becky had recently discovered <a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/147431/cubist" >Cubist</a>, and was keen to teach Dave, John and Bill. This left Dan and me with a 2-player <a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/31260/agricola" >Agricola</a>: do you hear us complaining?<br/><br/>It wasn't a great game for Dan: nearly going short at the first harvest, and thereafter having his Wood Distributor somewhat nullified (it would be no exaggeration to say I got more benefit from the card than he did). I was meanwhile on a Clay Pit-driven roll, and when my Greengrocer solved all my food problems, it was pretty plain sailing. It was at least good that Dan played it out without complaining.<br/><br/>Suz had arrived with another gentleman friend, this one by the name of Evan, and they liked the look of Cubist so much that they sat down for a second game. In fact, Suz took to it so much that she pipped Dave into first place. They had plenty of time for a game of <a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/117959/las-vegas" >Las Vegas</a> afterwards too. Becky reports that either Dave or Evan won this.<br/><br/>Bill, meanwhile, treated Dan John and I to his well-worn copy of <a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/19947/ark" >Ark</a>. The premise is simple. Actually, no it isn't, the premise is a nightmare. You have to put your animals on the Ark, NOT mixing their habitats, NOT putting big carnivores in with little animals and NOT overbalancing the ark by putting big cards on one side. Bill's rules explanation was enough to drive me to a double scotch, which made the whole nightmare of a concept make a little more sense. There are two redeeming features to the game: the cute and unique animal cards, and the opportunity to naysay pretty much everyone else's move on the basis that it breaks one of the many placement rules. But otherwise it was rather tedious. I think Dan won, but by that point we were all past caring.
http://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/44382/friday-july-24th-blue-spy-thinking
http://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/44382/friday-july-24th-blue-spy-thinkingTue, 28 Jul 2015 19:27:56 +0000ousggFriday July 3rd - Rudeness from beyond the grave
<p>by <a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/blogger/623/ben-bateson" >Ben Bateson</a></p>
This was to be the last RoWBGers games night for Becky and me before two weeks' holiday, and indeed I have the luxury of writing the blog this week on my phone from a Penzance guest house.<br/><br/>Expecting (and, indeed, getting) six tonight, I was fully expecting us to split into two tables, but in thankful contrast to last week's shenanigans, we stayed resolutely unified all night.<br/><br/>Waiting for Dan and Suzanna, John dealt out a quick 4P Abluxxen, and despite Tony and Becky laying down some monstrous combos, I was pleased enough to find myself with a comfortable win. As I've said before: a perfectly pleasant game, but I don't ever think we'll find it outstanding enough to make it a club favourite.<br/><br/>Dan and Suz now having joined us, we moved onto the main event for the night, Mysterium. Rather bafflingly for someone who had spent the last six weeks harping on about it, Tony seemed to have no clue how to play, and proceeded to read the rules verbatim (the English ones, thankfully, not the Polish ones). Suggestions from me that he may have finally slipped below Bill in our league table of Games Teachers were not well received.<br/><br/>Anyway, Mysterium. Followers of the blog may recall that we don't take too well to cooperative games (our one episode of Hanabi nearly led to a punch-up and our efforts at Pandemic prompted John to storm out disgustedly of his own dining room). Indeed, the club dynamic being what it is, we developed pretty much our own rule set for the game:<br/><br/><b>Designer's intended rules for Mysterium:</b> a cooperative game where a silent ghost prompts the other players, through use of Dixit-like card association, to identify a secret criminal.<br/><br/><b>Ross-on-Wye rules for Mysterium:</b> an asymmetric competitive game where the objective for the ghost player is to stolidly grit their teeth through to the end of Round 7 without losing their patience and yelling out: "YOU'RE ALL A BUNCH OF FUCKING MORONS!" The objective of the detective players is naturally to encourage this and subsequently have a good laugh at the ghost's expense.<br/><br/>Needless to say, the detectives 'won' both times that we played. I fear there may be balance issues.<br/><br/>Even after two games of swearing and ectoplasm, we still had plenty of time for a semi-main in the shape of the fine Libertalia. Restraining our worst piratical impressions for John's benefit (although even Suzanna managed an occasional 'yaaaargh'), we set sail on a relatively straightforward first round, a miserly second and a third filled with all sorts of Monkey business. Dan played with an outstanding blend of planning, bluff and a hint of cheesy luck, managing to beat Tony by half a dozen points or so. suz's first game was encouraging; a treasure map string and some off-kilter choices did her a very nice 70 points or so.<br/><br/>I had suggested a quick King Of Tokyo to finish, but it was getting late, so we settled for - what else? - Dobble. I took down the final round of Hot Potato (by far our preferred variant) to prove that beer is no barrier to victory in this one.
http://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/43694/friday-july-3rd-rudeness-beyond-grave
http://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/43694/friday-july-3rd-rudeness-beyond-graveSun, 05 Jul 2015 08:47:54 +0000ousgg